Metro Police Detective E.J. Bernard, a savvy, workaholic cop who investigated some of Nashville's most infamous murder cases, has resigned in the wake of two complaints that he harassed a suspect and lied during the course of a homicide investigation.
A 24-year veteran of the force, Bernard was one of the department's most colorful and cocky investigators, equally at ease befriending a victim's family or interrogating a recalcitrant suspect. In February of 2000, in perhaps his most famous case, he cracked the then-unsolved murder of beloved nightclub owner David "Skull" Schulman after tracking down the killer in a Nebraska mental institution. But in October, the well-known detective quietly resigned as the police department's internal affairs wing, the Office of Professional Accountability, was investigating two explosive complaints over his conduct in the death of a Donelson woman.
In August 2003, neighbors discovered the badly decomposed body of Deanie Alley Kelly, who was found shot in the head. A gun was found on the floor directly below her hand.
According to police documents, Bernard initially characterized the case as "death/other," suggesting suicide. The coroner's report, however, said that the manner of the woman's death was undetermined, raising the possibility that she was murdered. Detective Bernard reclassified the incident as "homicide/murder" and soon set his sights on the woman's son, Richard Shaun Piercy, who police recall was 18 or 19 at the time. Steadfastly maintaining his innocence, Piercy repeatedly asked to take a lie detector test, but Bernard rejected his request. Later, when Bernard was removed from the case, Piercy was quickly eliminated as a suspect in his mother's death.
Piercy's complaint says that Bernard harassed him during numerous interviews, calling him derogatory names suggesting he was gay. Piercy's complaint states that Bernard had intimidated and discriminated against him. Bernard's attorney David Raybin flatly denies the charge that his client ever harassed Piercy.
"Those complaints in our view are wrong and inaccurate. I've done my own inquiry and talked to witnesses in the report, and they have a different view of things.... It's not unusual for suspects or potential suspects to complain about their detectives," he says.
Internal investigators advised Bernard that his reports about the woman's death did not match photos of the crime scene. The complaint itself alleged that he provided inaccurate information to the family. It's also alleged that Bernard selectively referenced the coroner's report to substantiate his own view of the case, namely that the woman was murdered. But Raybin says that his client had ample reason to believe the woman was killed, including the odd fact that her dog was discovered alive in her home one month after her death. Who was feeding the dog? Bernard suspected it might have been someone close to the victim, perhaps her son.
Still, after the Office of Professional Accountability began its investigation of Bernard, the deceased woman's mother also filed a complaint against the veteran detective, alleging that he misled the family during the investigation. Raybin, however, says that he has talked to members of the woman's family and they told him that the detective was "above board" and kept them up-to-date about the status of the investigation. He says that his client's resignation wasn't tied to the internal inquiry but instead to Police Chief Ronal Serpas' decision to reassign him from homicide.
"The fact that he left is not unusual since there have been many experienced investigators who left since the new chief came on," Raybin says, adding that Bernard's considering a few opportunities in the private sector.
Working the homicide beat, Bernard didn't always make friends, but that came with the territory, according to his former boss. "A detective who's trying to do his job is going to be controversial," says retired lieutenant Tommy Jacobs, who worked as a supervisor in the homicide squad from 1984 to 1996.
Jacobs says that Bernard was a stubborn, tireless investigator who wasn't afraid to wait for suspects where they lived or tirelessly knock on the doors of people who might have something to hide. That kind of behavior prompted a lot of complaints, he says, but in the end, Jacobs never heard an unkind word from the family of a victim, who invariably appreciated the gumshoe's intensity.
"I wanted my detectives to stay inside the legal envelope, but I didn't want them to stay right in the middle of it," Jacobs says. "I wanted them to push the envelope but stay within the law. E.J. did that, but it caused him to be criticized from time to time."
